Elimination of insanitary latrines and manual scavenging as well as rehabilitation of manual scavengers in alternative occupations, have been areas of high priority of the Government. To achieve the above objectives, the following major legislative and programmatic interventions have been undertaken by the Government:-
(i) Parliament enacted the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013”, which has come into force with effect from 06.12.2013 in all States and Union Territories.
(ii) Taking cognizance of the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, more than 10.88 crore sanitary toilets have been constructed in rural areas and 62.64 lakh in urban areas and insanitary toilets have been converted into sanitary toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, since October 2, 2014. This work made a huge contribution towards ending the practice of manual scavenging.
(iii) After the enactment of the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013”, the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) was revised in November, 2013, in consonance with the provisions of the Act as follows: -
- Provision of One Time Cash Assistance of Rs. 40,000/- to one identified manual scavenger in the family.
- Back-end Capital subsidy upto Rs. 3.25 lakh to identified manual scavengers and their dependants for self employment projects upto Rs. 10.00 lakh (Rs. 15.00 lakh in case of sanitation related projects).
- Skill Development Training upto two years to identified manual scavengers and their dependants with stipend @ Rs. 3,000/- per month during the training period.
(iv) Two surveys have been conducted at the initiative of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment during the year 2013 and 2018 for the identification of Manual Scavengers. As per these two surveys, 58098 eligible manual scavengers have been identified and paid the One time Cash Assistance of Rs. 40,000/-.
(v) To make the scheme more effective, SRMS has been further revised w.e.f. 1.4.2021. The major modifications made under SRMS are:-
a. The maximum amount of capital subsidy per beneficiary has been revised from Rs. 3.25 lakh to Rs. 5.00 lakh.
b. Payment of capital subsidy has been made upfront in place of back-end subsidy earlier.
c. For Sanitation Related Projects, in addition to the identified manual scavengers and their dependants, the sanitation workers and their dependants are also made eligible for same amount of capital subsidy and interest subsidy.
d. For group projects, the project cost has been increased to Rs. 50.00 lakh per group upto five members. Each member of the group can have maximum project share of Rs. 10.00 lakh.
e. Taking cognizance of health issues of manual scavengers and to enhance their health conditions the Government has extended health insurance benefits of upto Rs. 5.00 lakh to all the identified manual scavengers under Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
(vi) After receiving reports from the social institutions working in this field about existence of insanitary latrines, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched a mobile app “Swachhata Abhiyaan” on 24.12.2020 to capture the data of insanitary latrines still existing and manual scavengers if any associated with them. Any person can upload the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers on the mobile app. Thereafter, the data is verified by the concerned district administration. So far over 6000 cases have been uploaded on the App. However, not a single insanitary latrine has been confirmed so far.
This information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri. Ramdas Athawale in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
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MG/RNM/SB